AJ McKee kept the Bellator streak alive with his win over Roberto de Souza at the Rizin FF vs. Bellator event.
2022 was a massive year in the world of MMA. From the UFC to Bellator, to PFL, to all the regional and global organizations fans were treated to amazing fights. As a parting gift to fans for the year, Bellator MMA and Rizin FF came together to pit some of their biggest stars against each other. The event called Rizin FF vs. Bellator kicked off on December 31 live from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
In this cross-promotional event, Bellator sent five fighters including current and former champions to match up against five Rizin fighters. The goal was to see which promotion would come out on top, and that debate was surely resolved. The entire event can be seen as a recording on Showtime at 8 pm ET, Saturday night. Spoiler results are to follow below.
AJ McKee scores the unanimous decision victory over Roberto de Souza
Former Bellator featherweight champion AJ McKee took on Rizin lightweight champion Roberto de Souza as the headliner of the event. After a hard-fought battle, McKee came out on top and was awarded the unanimous decision.
A wild ending to round 1!
This is why JMMA rules, rule!
[ #RIZIN40 | #RIZINvsBellator ] pic.twitter.com/ilQwCWxI7h
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) December 31, 2022
Both men were utilizing their stand-up and ground games equally. The event was entertaining from top to bottom and Bellator as a whole came out on top with five wins on the night. All the Bellator fighter vs. Rizin fighter bouts went the distance and showed that both organizations have the skills and the talent to compete at the highest level.
These two are complete wizards on the ground…
[ #RIZIN40 | #RIZINvsBellator ] pic.twitter.com/fJjuttH8yh
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) December 31, 2022
Rizin FF vs. Bellator results are as follows:
- A.J. McKee def. Roberto de Souza via unanimous decision
- Patricio Freire def. Kleber Koike Erbst via unanimous decision
- Kyoji Horiguchi def. Hiromasa Ougikubo via unanimous decision
- Juan Archuleta def. Soo Chul Kim via split decision
- Gadzhi Rabadanov def. Koji Takeda via unanimous decision
